24 Facts About Edward Cronjager

Edward Cronjager was an American cinematographer whose career spanned from the silent era through the 1950s.

Edward Cronjager came from a family of cinematographers, with his father, uncle, and brother all working in the film industry behind the camera.

Edward Cronjager's work covered over 100 films and included projects on the small screen towards the end of his career.

Edward Cronjager filmed in black and white and color mediums, and his work received nominations for seven Academy Awards over three decades, although he never won the statue.

Edward Cronjager was the preferred director of photography of early film star Richard Dix and served on several Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences committees, as well as being selected by the American Society of Cinematographers to test new types of film stock.

Edward Cronjager was born into a film family in New York City in 1904.

Edward Cronjager was lauded by industry magazines such as Variety for his inventive camera work in 1928's Warming Up, which added realism to the efforts of Dix as a baseball pitcher.

In September 1928 Edward Cronjager became involved in a minor controversy.

The film industry was becoming unionized, and Edward Cronjager was resistant to joining.

Edward Cronjager joined the union at the studio's request, averting the threatened union action.

In 1932 Edward Cronjager worked with two other well-known cinematographers, Lucien Andriot and Clyde De Vinna, on King Vidor's film, Bird of Paradise.

Edward Cronjager worked with Dix again in 1933, on the film The Lost Squadron, which starred Mary Astor, and was directed by George Archainbaud.

In 1937 Edward Cronjager moved to the studio with which he would be most associated, 20th Century Fox.

Edward Cronjager was selected for the AMPAS cinematography committee once more in 1937, and again for the third year in a row in 1938.

In January 1940, Edward Cronjager was again named to the rules committee of AMPAS, regarding the Oscar for cinematography.

In 1941 Cronjager shot one of the earliest film noirs, I Wake Up Screaming, starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature, directed by H Bruce Humberstone.

Edward Cronjager won neither, losing to Joseph Ruttenberg in the black and white category for Mrs Miniver, and to Leon Shamroy for the color cinematography in The Black Swan.

Edward Cronjager manned the camera for the classic My Friend Flicka in 1943, starring Roddy McDowall; but it was his work on Heaven Can Wait which earned him his fifth Oscar nomination, this one for color film photography.

Edward Cronjager received his fifth nomination in four years for his work on 1944's Home in Indiana, directed by Henry Hathaway, and starring Walter Brennan; he lost again, this time to Leon Shamroy for his photography of the film Wilson.

Edward Cronjager filmed a dozen pictures during the first half of the 1950s, culminating in another Oscar nomination, his seventh and final, for 1954's Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, which featured his underwater photography using the "Aquaflex", a French underwater camera, the first use of CinemaScope underwater.

Edward Cronjager lost again, this time to Loyal Griggs for his filmwork on Shane.

Edward Cronjager was married a second time, in 1935, to actress Kay Sutton; their marriage was announced in September 1935, and their divorce in September 1937.

Edward Cronjager died on June 15,1960, aged 56, three months before the release of his last film, The Devil's Partner, although he had filmed it two years earlier.

Edward Cronjager had been injured several weeks prior to his death while on the set of a picture, when he had intervened to stop a fight between two stuntmen, although his death was listed as natural causes.